US9836460B2 - Systems and methods for analyzing patent-related documents - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed that analyze patent-related documents having at least one property type. In one implementation, a method involves displaying, in a first graphical element, identifiers of the patent-related documents. The method also involves analyzing the patent-related documents to determine at least one property value for the property type. The property value includes a string of one or more words describing subject matter associated with the patent-related documents and occurring in a subset of the patent-related documents. The method also displays a second graphical element associated with the property type. The second graphical element includes the property value. The method receives, at the second graphical element, a user selection of the property value. The method displays, in the first graphical element, identifiers of the subset of the patent-related documents in which the property value occurs.

Description

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of computerized systems. More particularly, the disclosure relates to computerized systems and methods for analyzing patent-related documents.

Background Information

Various databases and tools exist for patent-related documents, such as ones provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and some foreign patent agencies. Other search tools exist as well, such as, MicroPatent™, PatBase™, and Delphian™. These search tools typically permit users to search for patent-related documents using search terms and other criteria.

Traditional search tools are often limited in their ability to search, filter, and analyze large numbers of patent-related documents. Traditional search tools may locate large numbers of patent-related documents responsive to a query, but do not provide a convenient user interface for filtering and analyzing the patent-related documents to find relevant patent-related documents that are interesting to a user. Accordingly, there exists a need for improved search and analysis tools for patent-related documents.

SUMMARY

Consistent with a disclosed embodiment, a method analyzes patent-related documents having at least one property type. The method includes displaying, in a first graphical element, identifiers of the patent-related documents. The method analyzes, by at least one processor, the patent-related documents to determine at least one property value for the property type. The property value comprises a string of one or more words describing subject matter associated with the patent-related documents and occurring in a subset of the patent-related documents. The method further includes displaying a second graphical element associated with the property type, the second graphical element including the property value. The method also receives, at the second graphical element, a user selection of the property value. The method further displays, in the first graphical element, identifiers of the subset of the patent-related documents in which the property value occurs.

Consistent with a disclosed embodiment, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium comprises program instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to perform a method that analyzes patent-related documents having at least one property type. The method includes displaying in a first graphical element, identifiers of the patent-related documents. The method analyzes the patent-related documents to determine at least one property value for the property type. The property value includes a string of one or more words describing subject matter associated with the patent-related documents and occurring in a subset of the patent-related documents. The method displays a second graphical element associated with the property type, the second graphical element including the property value. The method further includes receiving, at the second graphical element, a user selection of the property value. The method further displays, in the first graphical element, identifiers of the subset of the patent-related documents in which the property value occurs.

Consistent with a disclosed embodiment, a method analyzes of patent-related documents having at least one property type. The method includes retrieving, from a storage, the patent-related documents. The method analyzes, by at least one processor, the patent-related documents to determine at least one property value for the property type. The property value includes a string of one or more words describing subject matter associated with the patent-related documents and occurring in a first subset of the patent-related documents. The method analyzes a corpus of patent-related documents to determine at least one variant of the property type. The variant is used in the corpus of patent-related documents to refer to the subject matter described by the property value. The variant comprises another string of one or more words occurring in a second subset of the patent-related documents. The method further displays, in a first graphical element, identifiers of the patent-related documents element. The method displays a second graphical element associated with the property type, the second graphical element including the property value. The method receives, at the second graphical element, a user selection of the property value. In response to the user selection, the method displays a third graphical element with the variant. The method further includes receiving a user selection of the variant. The method further displays, in the first graphical element, identifiers of the first subset in which the property value occurs and identifiers of the second subset in which the variant occurs.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the embodiments, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate disclosed embodiments and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system, consistent with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a memory including components that may be used for analyzing patent-related documents.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method that may be used for analyzing patent-related documents.

FIG. 4 illustrates a first graphical interface that may be provided by a Result Component.

FIG. 5 illustrates a second graphical interface that may be provided by a Bibliographic Data Filtering Component.

FIG. 6 illustrates a third graphical interface that may be provided by a Bibliographic Data Filtering Component.

FIG. 7 illustrates a fourth graphical interface that may be provided by a Subject Matter Data Filtering Component.

FIG. 8 illustrates a fifth graphical interface that may be provided by a Subject Matter Data Filtering Component.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for displaying a property value for filtering a body of patent-related documents.

FIG. 10 illustrates a sixth graphical interface that may be provided by a Variant Determining Component.

FIG. 11 illustrates flow diagram of a method for displaying patent-related documents that contain a claim element or variant.

FIG. 12 illustrates a seventh graphical interface of a thesaurus that may be provided by a Variant Determining Component.

FIG. 13 illustrates an eighth graphical interface that may be provided by a Summarizing Component.

FIG. 14A illustrates a claim element graphical interface that displays claim elements for selected patent-related documents.

FIG. 14B illustrates a full text graphical interface that displays full text for selected patent-related documents.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar parts. While several exemplary embodiments are described herein, modifications, adaptations and other implementations are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed embodiments. For example, substitutions, additions or modifications may be made to the components illustrated in the drawings, and the exemplary methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding steps to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description is not limiting. Instead, the proper scope is defined by the appended claims.

Embodiments disclosed herein provide computer-implemented systems and methods for filtering and/or analyzing documents. Although the following discussion may refer to various legal documents, such as patents and published patent applications, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that systems and methods consistent with the disclosed embodiments may analyze any kind of document.

In the context of patents or published patent applications, as used herein, a “claim element” shall mean a component of an invention that is found in a claims section of a patent application and a “part” shall mean a component of an invention found in a description section of a patent application. The “part” may be a component of a drawing reference, which may include both the part and an identifier, such as a reference number. A “term” shall constitute a word used in a document in a specific way to mean a certain thing. As used herein, a “phrase” may include a string of one or more elements, parts, or terms. In the context of documents, in general, the terms “element,” “part,” and “phrase” may refer to any word or words in a document.

FIG. 1 illustrates anexemplary system100, consistent with a disclosed embodiment. Although a specific number of components are depicted inFIG. 1, any number of these components may be provided. Furthermore, the functions provided by one or more components ofsystem100 may be combined or separated. Moreover, the functionality of any one or more components ofsystem100 may be implemented by any appropriate computing environment.

With reference toFIG. 1,system100 may include adevice102, anetwork112, and adatabase114.Device102 may perform computing tasks, such as searching for and filtering patent-related documents. For example,device102 may be a desktop computer, laptop computer, or other handheld or mobile device.Device102 may include a central processing unit (CPU)104, amemory106, auser interface108, and/or an I/O unit110.

CPU104 may execute computer program instructions to perform various processes and methods.CPU104 may read the computer program instructions frommemory106 or from any computer-readable storage medium included indevice102, external todevice102, or accessible todevice102 overnetwork112.Memory106 may include random access memory (RAM) and/or read only memory (ROM) configured to access and store information and computer program instructions.Memory106 may also include additional memory to store data and computer program instructions, and/or one or more internal databases (not shown) to store tables, lists, or other data structures. Moreover,user interface108 may access user data, such as a user input for filtering patent-related documents. In some embodiments,user interface108 may be separate fromdevice102.User interface108 may also include a visual display, keyboard, mouse, or touch screen, for example. Furthermore, I/O unit110 may access data overnetwork112.

Network112 may facilitate communications between the various devices insystem100, such asdevice102 anddatabase114. In addition,device102 may access legacy systems (not shown) vianetwork112, or may directly access legacy systems, databases, or other network applications.Network112 may be a shared, public, or private network, may encompass a wide area or local area, and may be implemented through any suitable combination of wired and/or wireless communication networks. Furthermore,network112 may comprise a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), an intranet, or the Internet. In some embodiments,network112 may be substituted with a direct wired or wireless connection betweendevice102 anddatabase114.

Database114 may includedocuments116.Documents116 may be associated with any subject matter, such as legal, scientific, financial, and/or political. In disclosed embodiments,documents116 may be patent-related documents, such as U.S. patents and/or Published U.S. applications.Documents116 may also include patents and published applications from other jurisdictions, such as Japan, Europe, China, etc., or under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, for example.

Moreover, although shown as separate components inFIG. 1,database114 anddevice102 may be combined. Moreover,device102 may include one or more databases in addition to or instead ofdatabase114.Database114 may also be distributed over multiple databases.

FIG. 2 illustratesmemory106, which includes components that may be used for analyzing patent-related documents. The components inmemory106 may be logical portions or aspects of computer programs or computer program instructions stored inmemory106. These components may be implemented in hardware, software, or firmware, or a combination thereof.

Memory106 may include aResult Component202, aData Extraction Component204, a BibliographicData Filtering Component206, a Subject MatterData Filtering Component208, aVariation Determining Component210, and a SummarizingComponent212.

Result Component202 may identify a body of patent-related documents. For example,Results Component202 may enable a user to input general search terms and retrieve patent-related documents meeting the search terms, from, forexample database114, as shown inFIG. 1.Results Component202 may list the body of patent-related documents with metadata describing the patent-related documents. OnceResults Component202 determines the body of patent-related documents, data from patent-related documents from the body may be extracted for the purposes of filtering.

Data Extraction Component204 may extract different types of data occurring in the body of patent-related documents, such as bibliographic data and subject matter data. Bibliographic data may relate to information describing the background or history of a patent-related document. For example, bibliographic data for a patent or published patent application may include: assignee, inventor, legal representative, examiner, U.S. class, international patent classification (IPC), date, and/or citations. Subject matter data, by contrast, may relate to information describing technical aspects or concepts being described or explained in a patent-related document. For example, subject matter data for a patent or published patent application may include: part, term, phrase, or claim element, as defined above.

BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may display property types of the extracted bibliographic data. For example, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may display different graphical elements for each of the following bibliographic data of: assignee, inventor, legal representative, examiner, U.S. class, international patent classification (IPC), date, and/or citations. Moreover, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may filter the body of patent-related documents according to a selection of one or more property values associated with the extracted bibliographic data. For example, a user may select a listed law firm as a property value from a graphical element of bibliographic property type “legal representative.” BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may then filter the body of patent-related documents and display only those having the selected law firm as its “legal representative.” Moreover, in addition to filtering based on bibliographic data, exemplary embodiments may additionally or alternatively filter based on subject matter data.

Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may display property types of the extracted subject matter data. Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may display different graphical elements for each of the following subject matter data of: part, term, phrase, and/or claim element. In each of the different graphical elements,Data Extraction Component204 may display property values extracted from the body of patent-related documents that correspond to the property type. For example, in a graphical element of a bibliographic property type “legal representative,”Data Extraction Component204 may list all the different law firms occurring as legal representatives within the body of patent-related documents. A user may be able to select one or more of the property values to filter the body of patent-related documents. Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may filter the body of patent-related documents according to a selection of one or more property values associated with the extracted subject matter data. For example, a user may select a part as a subject matter property value from a graphical element of property type “parts.” Subject MatterData Filtering Component206 may then filter the body of patent-related documents and display only those having the selected part.

Variation Determining Component210 may determine one or more variants for a subject matter property value. For a subject matter property value (e.g., a particular part, term, phrase, or claim element) used in the body of patent-related documents, a variant may be a different corresponding part, term, phrase, or claim element that is used to represent the same technical aspect or concept.Variation Determining Component210 may determine the variants by analyzing a corpus of patent-related documents to determine if the variant is used interchangeably with the subject matter property value. The corpus of patent-related documents may be the same, smaller, larger, overlapping, or completely different from the body of patent-related documents determined byResults Component202. After determining the variants,Variation Determining Component210 may display the variants in one or more graphical elements for user selection.Variation Determining Component210 may filter the body of patent-related documents according to the selection of the one or more displayed variants.

Accordingly, in disclosed embodiments, a user may have filtered the body of patent-related documents by selected multiple bibliographic property values, subject matter property values, and/or variants. In some embodiments, these filter values may be combined by logical AND (intersection). In other embodiments, these filter values may be combined by logical OR (union). In other embodiments some of the filter values may be combined by logical AND while others may be combined by logical OR. Any of these logical combinations may be set by a user in an options menu or may be preprogrammed. In some embodiments, in a default setting, filter values within a graphical element may be combined by a logical OR, while filter values among different graphical elements may be combined with a logical AND.

A SummarizingComponent212 may aggregate and display the previously selected bibliographic and subject matter property values. At this stage, SummarizingComponent212 may permit de-selection of any previously selected property value. Moreover, SummarizingComponent212 may display a claim listing and/or full text of the filtered patent-related documents and highlight selected property values and variants within the displayed claim listing or full text.

For example, a user may have previously filtered the body of patent-related documents according to a particular law firm, a particular part, and a variant of the part. SummarizingComponent212 may display a filtered subset of the body patent-related documents that contain those selected property values. For each patent-related document in the subset, SummarizingComponent212 may enable a user to view the full text patent-related document. Within the full text, SummarizingComponent212 may highlight the particular law firm used as the filter value in a first color. SummarizingComponent212 may further highlight the particular part in a second color, which may be different from the first color. Moreover, in some embodiments, SummarizingComponent212 may highlight the variant of the particular part in a common (i.e., the same) second color as the part, in order to indicate that the part and the variant are used interchangeably and represent the same technical aspect or concept. One of ordinary skill will appreciate that any other visual representation or identifier may be used instead of color, such as highlighting, shading, hatching, etc.

FIG. 3 illustrates flow diagram300 of a method that may be used for analyzing patent-related documents. Atblock302,Result Component202 may identify a body of patent-related documents, for example, in response to initial criteria or search terms entered by a user. Atblock304,Data Extraction Component204 may extract bibliographic data and/or subject matter data from the body of patent-related documents. As discussed, bibliographic data may relate to information describing the background or history of a patent-related document, while subject matter data, by contrast, may relate to information describing technical aspects or concepts being described or explained in a patent-related document.

Atblock306, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may filter the body of patent-related documents according to selected bibliographic data. In particular, a user may have selected one or more displayed bibliographic property values and BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may filter the body of patent-related documents into a subset that includes the selected one or more bibliographic property values.

Atblock308, Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may filter the body of patent-related documents according to selected subject matter data. In particular, a user may have selected one or more displayed subject matter property values, and Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may filter the body of patent-related documents into a subset that includes the selected one or more subject matter property values.

Atblock310,Variation Determining Component210 may determine variants for the subject matter data, for example, the subject matter property values selected inblock308. As discussed, for a subject matter property value (e.g., a particular part, term, phrase, or claim element) used in the body of patent-related documents, a variant may be a different corresponding part, term, phrase, or claim element that is used to represent the same technical aspect or concept.Variation Determining Component210 may filter the body of patent-related documents into a second subset that includes selected variants.

Atblock312, SummarizingComponent212 may display a summary of the filter values selected in blocks306-310 and may enable a user to view a claim listing and/or full text of the filtered patent-related documents. When the full text of a document is displayed, SummarizingComponent212 may highlight selected property values with a visual representation.

FIG. 4 illustrates a firstgraphical interface400, which may be provided byResult Component202. In particular,graphical interface400 may be presented to a user in order to identify a body of patent-related documents.

Graphical interface400 may include asearch term area402, asearch result area404, and asearch summary area406.Search term area402 may enable a user to enter general search terms for identifying a body of patent-related documents.Search result area404 may list the body of patent-related documents.Search summary area406 may summarize information about the body of patent-related documents.

In particular,search term area402 may include the following search terms:Maximum Patents408,Class410,IPC412,Assignee414,Legal Representative416,Inventor418, References Cited420, andDate422.Maximum Patents408 may specify the maximum number of patents to be returned in the search.Class410 may refer to a particular class in the U.S. patent classification system. Ingraphical interface400, the value ofClass410 is 249, which refers to “Static Molds” in the U.S. patent classification system. In some embodiments,Class410 may refer to a particular class in a foreign or other classification system. Moreover,IPC412 may refer a class in the International Patent Classification system.

Assignee414 may relate to assignee information listed on one or more patent-related documents. In disclosed embodiments, the assignee information may be recorded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or other foreign patent office, and may be available via an online resource or other resource. Alternatively, the assignee information may be stored in any other location or may be made available by any other means.

Legal representative416 may relate to an attorney or law firm, which prosecuted one or more patent-related documents.Inventor418 may relate to an inventor of one or more patent-related documents. References Cited420 may relate to references cited by one or more patent-related documents.Date422 may relate to a date or date range of one or more patent-related documents.

Moreover,search result area404 may list the body of patent-related documents identified by the search terms insearch term area402.Search result area404 may identify the body of patent-related documents by number (e.g., U.S. patent number) and/or title.

In some embodiments, the body of patent-related documents may be loaded from a client-side storage location, or any other database. Moreover, in some embodiments, a user may enter a list of patents to be included in the body of patent-related documents. Furthermore, in some embodiments, one or more patent-related lists may be received from a search tool and processed to determine the body of patent related documents.

Search summary area406 may summarize information about the body of patent-related documents. Search summary area may includeitem field424,average field426, andtotal field428.Item field424 may provide a feature about the patent-related documents. For example,item field424 includes “Patents,” “Claims,” “Independent Claims,” “Claim Elements,” and “References.”Average field426 provides average values corresponding to the features initem field424. For example,average field426 indicates that there are an average of 13 claims in each patent-related document in the body, with an average of 2 independent claims.Average field426 further indicates that there is an average of 46 claim elements in each of the patent-related documents in the body and 75 cited references.

For one or more of the items initem field424,total field428 may provide the total number of items. For example, for “References” initem field424,total field428 indicates that there are 7591 references cited in the body of patent related documents. In some embodiments,total field428 may count references (or other items) multiple times. In some embodiments,search summary area406 may include another field (not shown) including the unique number of items associated with an item initem field426. The unique number of items may not include duplicates.

FIG. 5 illustrates a secondgraphical interface500 that may be provided by BibliographicData Filtering Component206. In particular, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may display bibliographic data extracted from the body of patent-related documents byData Extraction Component204.

Graphical interface500 includes graphical elements502-508, each of which is associated with a bibliographic property type. Moreover, each of the graphical elements may list property values corresponding to the property type of the graphical element.

For example, the property type ofgraphical element502 is “Assignee” and the property values may be different assignees extracted from the body of patent-related documents. Similarly, the property type ofgraphical element504 is “Inventor” and the property values may be different inventor names extracted from the body of patent-related documents. Also, the property type ofgraphical element506 is “Legal Representative” and the property values may be different attorney or law firm names that were extracted from the body of patent-related documents. Finally, the property type ofgraphical element508 is “Examiner” and the property values may be different patent examiner names that were extracted from the body of patent-related documents.

In disclosed embodiments, property values for a particular property type may be ranked and ordered in their associated graphical element. For example, ingraphical element502, each of the listed assignees (i.e., property values) include a count value (“Cnt”). The count value may indicate the number of patent-related documents in which the particular assignee (i.e., property value) occurs throughout the body of patent-related documents. Forgraphical element502, the assignee “Husky” occurs in 4 different patent-related documents in the body, while the assignee “Gillespie” occurs in 2 different patent-related documents in the body. Accordingly, “Husky” may be ranked higher than “Gillespie” and in the order of property values listed ingraphical element502, the assignee “Husky” may be displayed higher or before “Gillespie.” BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may perform and display similar ranking and ordering for graphical elements504-508 as well.

Moreover, each of graphical elements502-508 may permit a user to select one or more of the listed property values to filter the body of patent-related documents. The filtered patent-related documents may be identified and listed incitations list510. The filtered patent-related documents may be a subset of the body of patent-related documents, depending on the property values selected by the user in graphical elements502-508.Citation list510 may display identifiers and metadata of the filtered patent-related documents. For example,citation list510 may display a publication number, title, IPC, assignee, and date for each of the filtered patent-related documents. In some embodiments, citation list may display the total number of claims, number of independent claims, and/or number of dependent claims for each of the filtered patent-related documents.

Moreover, in response to receiving a user selection of a property value at graphical elements502-508, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may render unselectable those property values that do not coexist in the body of patent-related documents with the selected property value. For example, if a user selects the property value “Husky” fromgraphical element502, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may render unselectable the remaining property values ingraphical element502. This may be because other assignees do not occur together with “Husky” in the same patent-related document from the body of patent-related documents. Indeed, patent-related documents typically have a single assignee. If there existed a patent-related document from the body of patent-related documents, which did include another assignee besides “Husky,” then BibliographicData Filtering Component206 would not render unselectable this another assignee.

In other embodiments, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may not render unselectable the remaining property values ingraphical element502, after selection of “Husky.” This may broaden the results of the filtering. Indeed, by permitting further selections of property values fromgraphical element502, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may include additional patent-related documents from the body of patent-related documents. For example, a user may select both “Husky” and “Gillespie” fromgraphical element502, which may return patent-related documents having an assignee of either “Husky” or “Gillespie.” This is because selected property values within a graphical element may be combined with a logical OR operation.

BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may render unselectable certain property values in different graphical elements, if those property values do not occur in the body of patent-related documents together with a selected property value. This is because selected property values among different graphical elements may be combined with a logical AND operation. For example, if “Husky” is selected ingraphical element502, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may render unselectable certain inventor property values ingraphical element504, if certain inventor names do not coexist with the assignee “Husky” in the same patent-related document, from the body of patent-related documents. Similarly, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may also render unselectable certain property values ingraphical elements506 and508.

BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may render unselectable property values by removing them, graying them out, highlighting them, highlighting the remaining selectable property values, or by any other indication. Moreover, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may reorder the property values that remain selectable in graphical elements502-508.

Patent-related documents may be selected fromcitation list510. In some embodiments, a selection of a patent-related document fromcitation list510 may cause reordering and/or highlighting of property values in graphical elements502-508. For example, if U.S. Pat. No. 7,682,143 is selected incitation list510, then the assignee associated with this selected patent may be highlighted ingraphical element502 and/or placed at the top ofgraphical element502. This selection and/or reordering may also occur for property values in one or more of graphical elements504-508.

FIG. 6 illustrates a thirdgraphical interface600, which may also be provided by BibliographicData Filtering Component206.Graphical interface600 includes graphical elements602-608, each of which is associated with a bibliographic property type. Moreover, each of the graphical elements may list bibliographic property values corresponding to the property type of the graphical element.

For example, the property type ofgraphical element602 is “U.S. Class” and the property values may be different U.S. Classes extracted from the body of patent-related documents. Similarly, the property type ofgraphical element604 is “IPC” and the property values may be different international patent classifications extracted from the body of patent-related documents. Also, the property type ofgraphical element606 is “Date” and the property values may be different dates (e.g., filing dates or publication dates) extracted from the body of patent-related documents. Some embodiments may include separate tabs (not shown) for the filing date and grant date of a patent-related document. Finally, the property type ofgraphical element608 is “Citations” and the property values may be different document citations extracted from the body of patent-related documents.

In disclosed embodiments, property values for a particular property type may be ranked and ordered in their associated graphical element, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500. Moreover, each of graphical elements602-608 may permit a user to select one or more of the listed property values to filter the body of patent-related documents. The filtered patent-related documents may be identified and listed incitations list610, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500.

Moreover, in response to receiving a user selection of a property value at graphical elements602-608, BibliographicData Filtering Component206 may render unselectable those property values that do not coexist in the body of patent-related documents with the selected property value, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500.

FIG. 7 illustrates a fourth graphical interface700, which may be provided by Subject MatterData Filtering Component208. Graphical interface700 may include graphical elements702-706, each of which may be associated with a subject matter property type. Moreover, each of the graphical elements may list property values corresponding to the property type of the graphical element.

For example, the property type ofgraphical element702 is “Part” and the property values may be different parts (as defined previously) extracted from the body of patent-related documents. Similarly, the property type ofgraphical element704 is “Term” and the property values may be different terms (as defined previously) extracted from the body of patent-related documents. Also, the property type ofgraphical element706 is “Phrase” and the property values may be different phrases (as defined above) extracted from the body of patent-related documents.

In disclosed embodiments, property values for a particular property type may be ranked and ordered in their associated graphical element, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500. Moreover, each of graphical elements702-706 may permit a user to select one or more of the listed property values to filter the body of patent-related documents. The filtered patent-related documents may be identified and listed incitations list708, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500.

Moreover, in response to receiving a user selection of a property value at graphical elements702-706, Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may render unselectable those property values that do not coexist in the body of patent-related documents with the selected property value, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500.

Fourth graphical interface700 may also includegraphical element710, which may include definitions. In some embodiments,graphical element710 may be included as a separate tab. In the body of patent-related documents, certain terms or phrases may be explicitly defined. Disclosed embodiments may employ regular expression algorithms and/or pattern matching to identify definitions occurring in the body of patent-related documents. Accordingly,graphical element710 may include terms, definitions of the terms, and locations of the definitions.

This feature may be useful for determining, for example, a standard grammar used by a legal representative, assignee, or applicant. For example, a user may specify the body of patent-related document for a particular assignee, and then view the definitions in the body of patent-related documents, which are used by the particular assignee. In this way, definitions typically used by the assignee may be identified.

In some embodiments, similar (but different) definitions may be nevertheless grouped together and counted. For example, multiple similar definitions may be determined for a term, but only one of the similar definitions may be shown ingraphical element710 as associated with the term. In some embodiments,graphical element710 may include a count, indicating a number of times the term is defined in the body of patent-related documents. The count may include the similar definitions, even though there may be differences among the similar definitions.

FIG. 8 illustrates a fifthgraphical interface800, which may be provided by Subject MatterData Filtering Component208.Graphical interface800 may includegraphical element802, which is associated with a subject matter property type. Moreover,graphical element802 may list property values corresponding to its property type. For example, the property type ofgraphical element802 is “Claim Elements” and the property values may be different claim elements (as defined previously) extracted from the body of patent-related documents.

In disclosed embodiments, property values for a particular property type may be ranked and ordered in their associated graphical element, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500. Moreover,graphical element802 may permit a user to select one or more of the property values to filter the body of patent-related documents. The filtered patent-related documents may be identified and displayed incitations list804, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500.

Moreover, in response to receiving a user selection of a property value atgraphical element802, Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may render unselectable those property values that do not coexist in the body of patent-related documents with the selected property value, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow diagram900 that summarizes a display and selection of a property value for filtering a body of patent-related documents. The steps in flow diagram900 may be performed by one or more of components202-212 (FIG. 2), which may execute on a processor, such as CPU104 (FIG. 1).

Atblock902,CPU104 may display identifiers of the body of patent-related documents. As discussed, the body of patent-related documents may be identified byResult Component202 after searching for patent-related documents based on search terms entered in screen shot400 (FIG. 4).

Atblock904,CPU104 may analyze the body of patent-related documents to determine property values for property types, by executedData Extraction Component204. Atblock906,CPU104 may cause the display of the property values. For example, graphical elements502-508 (FIG. 5),602-608 (FIG. 6),702-706 (FIG. 7), and802 (FIG. 8) are associated with a different property type and display property values associated with the corresponding property type.

Atblock908,CPU104 may receive a selection of one or more the displayed property values. Atblock910,CPU104 may determine a subset of the body of patent-related documents, in which the selected property value occurs. For example,CPU104 may filter the body of patent-related documents so that only the subset remain. Atblock912,CPU104 may cause a display of the subset of patent-related documents. For example,CPU104 may replace the previously displayed body of the patent-related documents with the subset of the patent-related documents. This may involve removing the patent-related documents from the body that are not in the subset. In exemplary embodiments, the subset of patent-related documents may be displayed in citations list510 (FIG. 5), citations list610 (FIG. 6), citations list708 (FIG. 7), and citations list804 (FIG. 8).

FIG. 10 illustrates a sixthgraphical interface1000 that may be provided byVariant Determining Component210.Graphical interface1000 may includegraphical element1002, which is associated with a subject matter property type and which may be similar to graphical element802 (FIG. 8). Moreover,graphical element1002 may list property values corresponding to its property type. For example, the property type ofgraphical element1002 is “Claim Elements” and the property values are different claim elements (as defined previously) extracted from the body of patent-related documents.

Graphical interface1000 may also includegraphical element1004, which may list variants for a claim element listed ingraphical element1002. Generally, for a subject matter property type (e.g., part, term, phrase, or claim element) used in the body of patent-related documents, a variant may be a different corresponding part, term, phrase, or claim element that is used to represent the same technical aspect or concept.

For example, ingraphical element1002, it is seen that the claim element property value “mold” is selected, as shown by the check box. When this selection occurs,Variation Determining Component210 may updategraphical element1004 to show variants of “mold.” Variants of “mold” displayed ingraphical element1004 include “surface,” “mold cavity,” “mold cavities,” etc. In this example, these variants are claim elements that may be used synonymously in place of “mold.” A user may select any of the variants ingraphical element1004 to filter the body of patent-related documents.

Claim elements selected fromgraphical element1002 may be logically ORed with their associated variants selected ingraphical element1004. In this way, the filtered patent-related documents displayed incitation list1006 includes both patent-related documents that include the selected claim element(s), and patent-related documents that include the selected variant(s). In this way, patent-related documents that describe the same conceptual ideas, but use slightly different language are not missed in the filtering.

Graphical interface1000 also includesgraphical element1008 for defining a corpus of patent-related documents in which to search for variants. Specifically, when determining variants for a claim element,Variation Determining Component210 may analyze a corpus of patent-related documents to see which terms are commonly used interchangeably with the claim element. These terms may then be identified and displayed to the user as variants,Graphical element1008 may enable a user to select the corpus to be analyzed in order to determine the variants.

Ingraphical interface1000,graphical element1008 allows the user to select between “Current Variants,” “Class Variants,” and “All Variants.” By selecting “Current Variants,” the user may directVariation Determining Component210 to analyze the body of patent-related documents initially determined byResults Component202. In alternate embodiments, the selection of “Current Variants” may directVariation Determining Component210 to analyze the patent-related documents filtered thus far by BibliographicData Filtering Component206 and/or Subject MatterData Filtering Component208.

Alternatively, by selecting “Class Variant”, the user may directVariation Determining Component210 to analyze patent-related documents belonging to one or more classes. In some embodiments, the class may include a class from the U.S. Classification System. In other embodiments, the class may be any other type of categorization of classification system, such as an international or other jurisdiction classification. In some embodiments, this may include all U.S. patents and/or published U.S. patent applications.

By selecting “All Variants,” the user may directVariation Determining Component210 to analyze patent-related documents that are available. This may be a significantly larger corpus of patent-related documents that the ones selected by “Current Variants” or “Class Variant.”

Moreover, by checking the box “Limit Elements to Current,” the user may directVariation Determining Component210 to calculate variants from the filtered patent-related document incitation list1006, provided that the patent-related document is listed incitation list1006.

Graphical interface1000 also includesgraphical element1010 for defining a group of claims in which claim elements can occur. If the selected claim elements all occur in the defined group of claims for a patent-related document, then the patent-related document may be included incitation list1006. In particular, after determining selected claim elements,Variation Determining Component210 may identify and display patent-related documents that include the selected claim elements (or their associated variants) in a certain document section. The document sections are listed ingraphical element1010 as “All Claims,” “Claim Threads,” and “Independent Claims.”

By selecting “All Claims,” the user may directVariation Determining Component210 to display a patent-related document incitation list1006, provided that the patent relate document includes the selected claim elements (or their selected variants) in the claims. In other words, for display, the selected claim elements (or their selected variants) should occur in any claim of the patent-related document.

Alternatively, by selecting “Claim Threads,” the user may directVariation Determining Component210 to display a patent-related document incitation list1006, provided that the patent-related document includes the selected claim elements (or their selected variants) in any single claim thread. In other words, for display, the selected claim elements (or their selected variants) should all occur within a claim thread of the patent-related document. In disclosed embodiments, a claim thread is a set of claims including a single independent claim and all of its dependent claims.

By selecting “Independent Claims,” the user may directVariation Determining Component210 to display a patent-related document incitation list1006, provided that the patent-related document includes the selected claim elements (or their selected variants) in any independent claim. In other words, for display, the selected claim elements (or their selected variants) should all occur in an independent claim of the patent-related documents.

In disclosed embodiments, property values for a particular property type may be ranked and ordered in their associated graphical element, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500. Moreover,graphical elements1002 and1004 may permit a user to select one or more of the listed property values to filter the body of patent-related documents. The filtered patent-related documents may be identified and listed incitations list1006, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500.

Moreover, in response to receiving a user selection of a property value atgraphical element1002, Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may render unselectable those property values that do not coexist in the body of patent-related documents with the selected property value, in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect tographical interface500.

In some embodiments, Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may determine antecedent basis for selected claim elements. In particular, Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may determine a part or phrase in the description (and a location of the part or phrase), which provides antecedent basis for a selected claim element. In some embodiments, Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may use “fuzzy matching” to determine a part or phrase similar to the selected claim element, which may not match exactly with the selected claim element. The fuzzy matching may identify locations of variants of the selected claim elements in the description. In some embodiments, Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may also similarly identify antecedent basis for means plus function limitations.

When identifying antecedent basis, Subject MatterData Filtering Component208 may also identify drawing references. For example, if a particular part is associated with a selected claim element (or its variant), then the drawing reference associated by the part may be identified in an appropriate figure as providing antecedent basis for the selected claim term.

FIG. 11 illustrates flow diagram1100 for displaying patent-related documents that contain a claim element or variant. The steps in flow diagram1100 may be performed by Variation Determining Component210 (FIG. 2), which may execute on a processor, such as CPU104 (FIG. 1).

Atblock1102,Variation Determining Component210 may identify a claim element. For example, as shown inFIG. 10, a user may select a claim element property value fromgraphical element1002, such as “mold.” Atblock1104,Variation Determining Component210 may receive a user selection identifying a corpus of patent-related documents from which to determine variants. For example, as described inFIG. 10, a user may select one of “Current Variants,” “Class Variants,” or “All Variants” fromgraphical element1008. In particular, as shown inFIG. 10, a user may select “Current Variants” to set the corpus of patent-related documents to the body of patent-related documents initially determined byResults Component202.

Atblock1106,Variation Determining Component210 may analyze the corpus of patent-related documents to determine variants of “mold.” To do this,Variation Determining Component210 may analyze the corpus of patent-related documents to determine word(s) that coexist with “mold,” and which are used synonymously with “mold” in the corpus.

This analysis may be done in different ways. In exemplary embodiments,Variation Determining Component210 may identify a part occurring in a patent-related document. As discussed, a part may be a component of a drawing reference, which include both the part and an identifier, such as a reference number. For example, a patent-related document may have a drawing reference “hollow tube10.” The same patent-related document may also have drawing references “cylindrical body10” and “empty tube10.” Because the same identifier (i.e., “10”) is being used to refer to a number of different parts (i.e., “hollow tube,” “cylindrical body,” and “empty tube”),Variation Determining Component210 determines that these different parts may be used interchangeably. In other words, the different parts may be variants of each other.

Variation Determining Component210 may also determine variants across different patent-related documents. For example, as discussed,Variation Determining Component210 may identify “hollow tube,” “cylindrical body,” and “empty tube” as a first set of variants of each other because they all have the identifier “10” in the first patent-related document.Variation Determining Component210 may also identify the following drawing references in a second patent-related document: “hollow body24,” U Shaped body24, “hollow tube24,” and “empty tube24.”Variation Determining Component210 may determine that the parts of these drawing references are a second set of variants of one another, because the drawing references all have the same identifier (i.e.,24).

Variation Determining Component210 may also link the first set of variants with the second set of variants. For example, the first set of variants includes the drawing reference “hollow tube10,” while the second set of variants includes the drawing reference “hollow tube24.” These drawing references have the same part (i.e., “hollow tube”) but different identifiers “(i.e., “10” and “24.”) Different patent-related documents may use different identifiers when referring to the same part. Accordingly,Variation Determining Component210 classifies “hollow tube10,” and “hollow tube24” as referring to the same part.Variation Determining Component210 may then further determine that the first set of variants are also variants with the second set of variants. In other words, the parts “hollow tube,” “cylindrical body,” “empty tube,” “hollow body,” U Shaped body,” and “empty tube” are all variants of each other. Table 1 below summarizes this example:

TABLE 1
Determination of Variants

	First Patent-related Document	Second Patent-related Document
	hollow tube 10	hollow body 24
	cylindrical body 10	U shaped body 24
	empty tube 10	hollow tube 24
		empty tube 24

Table 1 illustrates the drawing references and parts from the first patent-related document and the second patent-related document. Table 1 also indicates that “hollow tube 10” and “hollow tube 24” (both shown in bold) link together the variants of the first patent-related document with the variants from the second patent-related document.

In this way, variants for parts in drawing elements may be determined. The extracted parts and their variants may be stored in a parts database, which may be stored, for example, inmemory106 inFIG. 1. Moreover, parts (e.g., “hollow tube”) often also occur as terms, phrases, and/or claim elements. Accordingly, if, for example, “hollow tube” is also a claim element, then variants of the claim element are determined by accessing the parts database. The variants for the claim element “hollow tube” may then be determined to be “hollow tube,” “cylindrical body,” “empty tube,” “hollow body,” U Shaped body,” and “empty tube.”

Atblock1108,Variation Determining Component210 may cause the display of these determined variants. For example, as shown inFIG. 10,graphical element1004 shows variants for the claim element “mold,” such as “surface,” “mold cavity,” “mold cavities,” etc, which may have been used in the corpus interchangeable with “mold.” Atblock1110,Variation Determining Component210 may receive a user selection of one or more of the displayed variants, for example, fromgraphical element1004 inFIG. 10.

Atblock1112,Variation Determining Component210 may receive a user selection identifying a document section. For example, ingraphical element1010 inFIG. 10, a user may select from either “All Claims,” “Claim Threads” or “Independent Claims.” As shown inFIG. 10, the document section “All Claims” is selected. Accordingly, atblock1114,Variation Determining Component210 may display patent-related documents that include the claim element or variant in the document section “All Claims.” In other words, in this example,Variation Determining Component210 displays a patent-related document if the selected claim element or variant occurs in any claim of the patent-related document. These patent-related documents may be displayed, for example, incitation list1006 inFIG. 10.

FIG. 12 illustrates a seventhgraphical interface1200 of a thesaurus that may be provided byVariant Determining Component210.Graphical interface1200 may includegraphical element1202, which may list subject matter property values (e.g., term, phrase, and/or claim element) and associated variants. For example,graphical element1202 displays the subject matter property value “mold” and adjacently lists variants of “mold” (e.g., “surface,” “mold cavity,” “mold cavities”).

The variants listed ingraphical element1202 have associated numbers in parentheses. These numbers may indicate the number of patent-related documents in which the variant and the selected term/phrase coexist. For example, the term/phrase “mold” and the variant “surface” may coexist (e.g., as determined in Table 1) in 20 patent related documents. In some embodiments, these numbers of coexisting patent-related documents may define a variant rank. In other embodiments, rank may be determined in a different way.

Using a rank, variants may be displayed in rank order for a particular term/phrase. For example, ingraphical element1202, the variants for “mold” are displayed in the order in which they are ranked by the numbers in parentheses. In disclosed embodiments, ranking may also be employed for claim element variants or any other type of variants.

Graphical interface1200 also includesgraphical element1204, which lists the variants for user selection. For example, for the selected subject matter property value in graphical element1202 (i.e., “mold”),graphical element1204 lists its variants (e.g., “surface,” “mold cavity,” and “mold cavities”) in selectable form. If a user selects subject matter property values fromgraphical element1202 and variants fromgraphical element1204, thenVariant Determining Component210 may display patent-related documents from the body incitation list1206, which include either the selected subject matter property values or variants.

FIG. 13 illustrates an eighthgraphical interface1300 that may be provided by SummarizingComponent212. As discussed, SummarizingComponent212 may aggregate and display all of the previously selected bibliographic and subject matter property values and may permit de-selection of any previously selected property value.

For example,graphical interface1300 includesproperty value summary1302, which lists the property values selected by a user in previous graphical interfaces, such asgraphical interfaces500,600,700,800,1000, and1200. In particular,property value summary1302 may include the following selected property types: Inventor (fromgraphical element504 inFIG. 5), Legal Representative (fromgraphical element506 inFIG. 6), and Claim Elements (from graphical element802).Graphical interface1300 may also include citation list1304, which may list patent-related documents filtered from the body of patent-related documents by the property values listed inproperty value summary1302.

In disclosed embodiments,property value summary1302 may permit a user to de-select any of the listed property values. In some embodiments, this de-selection may cause the patent-related documents listed in citation list1304 to change accordingly. In other embodiments, the de-selection may not cause the patent-related documents listed in citation list1304 to change. Moreover, SummarizingComponent212 may permit a user to select patent-related documents listed in citation list1304.

Graphical interface1300 may also includeclaims tab1306 andfull text tab1308.Claims tab1306 may permit a user to see claims of the patent-related documents selected in citation list1304. Andfull text tab1308 may permit a user to see full text for the patent-related documents selected in citation list1304.Claims tab1306 andfull text tab1308 may also be selectable in other graphical interfaces, such asgraphical interfaces600,700,800,1000, and1200.

FIG. 14A illustrates claim elementgraphical interface1400, which displays claim elements for selected patent-related documents.Graphical interface1400 may be displayed after a user selectsclaims tab1306 fromFIG. 13, for example.

Graphical interface1400 includescitation list1402 and claimslisting1404.Citation list1402 may list filtered patent-related documents, and claims listing1404 may list the claims of the patent-related documents. In some embodiments, claims listing1404 may only include independent claims, for example, according to an options setting.

Claim elements previously selected by a user may be highlighted in claims listing1404. In particular, a claim element displayed in property value summary1302 (FIG. 13) may be highlighted in claims listing1404. Moreover, a selected variant of the selected claim element may also be highlighted in claims listing1404 in the same color. One of ordinary skill will appreciate that any other visual representation or identifier may be used instead of color, such as highlighting, shading, hatching, etc.

As a user selects or de-selects property values from, for example, property value summary1302 (FIG. 13), the highlighting inclaim listing1404 may dynamically change to reflect the section and de-selection. For example, if a user unselects the claim element “mold” fromproperty value summary1302, claim listing1404 may remove highlighting from the word “mold” in the listed claims.

FIG. 14B illustrates full textgraphical interface1406, which displays full text of selected patent-related documents.Graphical interface1406 may be displayed, for example, after a user selectsfull text tab1308 fromFIG. 13.

Graphical interface1406 includescitation list1408 andfull text1410.Citation list1408 may list filtered patent-related documents, andfull text1410 may display the full text of the patent-related documents.

Property values (either bibliographic or subject matter) previously selected by a user may be highlighted infull text1410. For example, a part, claim element, or inventor displayed in, for example, property value summary1302 (FIG. 13) may be highlighted infull text1410. Moreover, a selected variant of the selected claim element or part may also be highlighted in claims listing1410 in the same color. In some embodiments, a first selected claim element or part may be highlighted in a first color with its associated variants also highlighted in the first color. A second selected claim element or part may be highlighted in a second color with its associated variants also highlighted in the second color. One of ordinary skill will appreciate that any other visual representation or identifier may be used instead of color, such as highlighting, shading, hatching, etc.

As a user selects or de-selects property values from, for example, property value summary1302 (FIG. 13), the highlighting infull text1410 may dynamically change to reflect the section and de-selection. For example, if a user unselects the claim element “mold” fromproperty value summary1302,full text1410 may remove highlighting from the word “mold” in the full text.

The foregoing descriptions have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not exhaustive and do not limit the disclosed embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practicing the disclosed embodiments. For example, the described implementation includes software, but the disclosed embodiments may be implemented as a combination of hardware and software or in hardware alone. Additionally, although disclosed aspects are described as being stored in a memory on a computer, one skilled in the art will appreciate that these aspects can also be stored on other types of computer-readable media, such as secondary storage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks, a CD-ROM, or other forms of RAM or ROM.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.

Claims (12)

What is claimed is:

1. A method of providing patent-related documents having at least one property type to a user, the method comprising:

displaying, in a first graphical element, identifiers of patent-related documents, wherein the patent-related documents comprise at least one of a patent and a patent application;

analyzing, by at least one processor, the patent-related documents to determine at least one property value for the property type, the property value comprising a string of one or more words describing at least one technical aspect of the patent-related documents and occurring in a first subset of the patent-related documents;

displaying a second graphical element associated with the property type, the second graphical element including the property value;

receiving, at the second graphical element, a selected property value selected by the user;

analyzing, by the at least one processor, a corpus of patent-related documents to determine at least one variant of the selected property value, the variant being a string of one or more words occurring in a second subset of the patent-related documents that is used interchangeably with respect to a meaning of the technical aspect of the selected property value within the corpus of patent-related documents such that the at least one variant is used to refer to the technical aspect described by the selected property value;

rendering unselectable one or more property values that do not coexist in the corpus of patent-related documents with the selected property value by greying out the one or more property values that do not coexist in the corpus of patent-related documents and reordering one or more remaining property values that are selectable;

displaying, in the first graphical element, identifiers of the first subset of the patent-related documents in which the selected property value and the at least one variant occurs;

receiving a user selection identifying a document section of one or more patent-related documents of the first subset of the patent-related documents as one of:

all claims in a claim set;

a claim thread of interdependent claims, or

independent claims; and

displaying, in the first graphical element, those of the patent-related documents that include one or more selected claim elements, or variants of the selected claim elements, in the selected document section.

2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the property value comprises at least one of: a part, a term, or a phrase.

3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the property value comprises a claim element.

4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the corpus of patent-related documents is one of:

patents or patent applications stored in a database,

the patent-related documents that were displayed in the first graphical element, or

at least one class of patents or patent applications.

5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising:

displaying a full text patent-related document that includes both the selected property value and the variant, wherein the patent-related document comprises a patent or a patent application; and

highlighting the selected property value and the variant with a common identifier in the full text patent-related document.

6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the second graphical element includes a plurality of selected property values, the method further comprising:

ranking the selected property values in accordance with a number of the patent-related documents in which the selected property values occur; and

ordering the selected property values in the second graphical element according to the ranking.

7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein displaying identifiers of the first subset of the patent-related documents associated with the selected property value further comprises:

displaying related metadata with the identifiers, the metadata comprising an identification of independent claims and dependent claims in the first subset of the patent-related documents in which the selected property value occurs.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to perform a method of providing patent-related documents having at least one property type to a user, the method comprising:

displaying, in a first graphical element, identifiers of patent-related documents, wherein the patent-related documents comprise at least one of a patent and a patent application;

analyzing the patent-related documents to determine at least one property value for the property type, the property value comprising a string of one or more words describing at least one technical aspect of the patent-related documents and occurring in a first subset of the patent-related documents;

displaying a second graphical element associated with the property type, the second graphical element including the property value;

receiving, at the second graphical element, a selected property value selected by the user;

analyzing, by the at least one processor, a corpus of patent-related documents to determine at least one variant of the selected property value, the variant being a string of one or more words occurring in a second subset of the patent-related documents that is used interchangeably with respect to a meaning of the technical aspect of the selected property value within the corpus of patent-related documents such that the at least one variant is used to refer to the technical aspect described by the selected property value;

rendering unselectable one or more property values that do not coexist in the corpus of patent-related documents with the selected property value by greying out the one or more property values that do not coexist in the corpus of patent-related documents and reordering one or more remaining property values that are selectable;

displaying, in the first graphical element, identifiers of the first subset of the patent-related documents in which the selected property value and the at least one variant occurs;

receiving a user selection identifying a document section of one or more patent-related documents of the first subset of the patent-related documents as one of:

all claims in a claim set;

a claim thread of interdependent claims, or

independent claims; and

displaying, in the first graphical element, those of the patent-related documents that include one or more selected claim elements, or variants of the selected claim elements, in the selected document section.

9. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein the corpus of patent-related documents is one of:

patents or patent applications stored in a database,

the patent-related documents that were displayed in the first graphical element, or

at least one class of patents or patent applications.

10. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 8, the method further comprising:

displaying a full text patent-related document that includes both the selected property value and the variant, wherein the patent-related document comprises a patent or a patent application; and

highlighting the selected property value and the variant with a common identifier in the full text patent-related document.

11. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein the second graphical element includes a plurality of selected property values, the method further comprising:

ranking the selected property values in accordance with a number of the patent-related documents in which the selected property values occur; and

ordering the selected property values in the second graphical element according to the ranking.

12. A method of providing patent-related documents having at least one property type to a user, the method comprising:

retrieving, from a storage, patent-related documents, wherein the patent-related documents comprise at least one of a patent and a patent application;

analyzing, by at least one processor, the patent-related documents to determine at least one property value for the property type, the property value comprising a string of one or more words describing at least one technical aspect of the patent-related documents and occurring in a first subset of the patent-related documents;

analyzing a corpus of patent-related documents to determine at least one variant of the property type, the variant being a string of one or more words occurring in a second subset of the patent-related documents that is used interchangeably with respect to a meaning of the technical aspect of the property value within the corpus of patent-related documents such that the at least one variant is used to refer to the technical aspect described by the property value, wherein analyzing the corpus of patent-related documents to determine at least one variant of the property value comprises:

identifying a first drawing element in an identified patent-related document, the first drawing element including a part and a first reference, wherein the patent-related document comprises a patent or a patent application;

identifying a second drawing element in the identified patent-related document, the second drawing element including a different part and a second reference; and

associating the part with the different part as variants when the first reference and the second reference are the same;

displaying, in a first graphical element identifiers of the patent-related documents;

displaying a second graphical element associated with the property type, the second graphical element including the property value;

receiving, at the second graphical element, a selected property value selected by the user;

in response to the user selection:

rendering unselectable one or more property values that do not coexist in the corpus of patent-related documents with the selected property value by greying out the one or more property values that do not coexist in the corpus of patent-related documents,

reordering one or more remaining property values that are selectable, and

displaying a third graphical element with the variant;

receiving a user selection of the variant; and

displaying, in the first graphical element, identifiers of the first subset in which the property value occurs and identifiers of the second subset in which the variant occurs.

Images